1. Field of Use
This invention relates generally to apparatus for receiving, draining and disposing of dredged material comprising a mixture of water and sand or silt pumped from an underwater dredging site.
In particular, the apparatus comprises a mobile container which is divided into two compartments by a partition wall or weir and wherein water rising and separating from dredged material pumped into one compartment by a dredged material supply means flows over the weir into the other compartment from which it is then drained and the relatively dry sand or silt remaining in the said one compartment is then transported to a disposal site and removed from the mobile container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In some underwater dredging operations carried out to clear navigation channels of sand or silt or to remove unwanted build-up near beaches, breakwaters or docksides, dredged material is pumped through a hose from a submerged dredge head into dump trucks on a nearby shore for transport to and disposal at some remote location. Transport of dredged material comprising a mixture of water and sand or silt is uneconomical and it is desirable to separate and dispose of the water before transport.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,058, issued Aug. 8, 1989, and entitled "Dredging Apparatus Having a Diver-Operated Hand-Held Dredge Head for Quasi-Closed Loop System" discloses a dump truck having a conventional dump body containing a large removable filter unit containing a water pump, which unit is temporarily placed within the dump body prior to pumping dredged material into the dump body. After the dredged material pumped into the dump body has been drained of water by means of the pump-operated filter unit, the filter unit is physically removed from the dump body by means of a crane and the dump truck is then driven to some remote location whereat the substantially dry solid particulate matter is dumped from the truck. The foregoing arrangement enables the same pump-operated filter unit to be used in each successive dump truck arriving at the loading site. However, emplacement and removal of the filter unit for each truck requires a crane and involves expenditure of time, labor and money.